Imperfect Hearts
by artisanAdoration
Summary: In which Dirk Strider snaps after being rejected by his longtime crush, Jake English.


**AUTHOR'S NOTE: _Hey, guys! Random story time! I actually had this in a dream a few nights ago and decided to write it down as a fanfiction and I may or may not have ruined my OTP for myself because of this, but I hope you enjoy!_**

_**I do not own the characters, only the storyline.**_

_**Also, lots of gore and violence with a spoonful of language, so if you want to back out now, it's okay. Wouldn't want to trigger you lovelies.**_

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You love everything about him.

The way his glistening emerald eyes shone like treasures untold.

The way frizzled black hair that framed his face perfectly.

The way his muscles flexed against his bindings underneath flawless caramel skin.

And most of all, you love hearing the gentle rasping of his voice as he looked up at you with glazed eyes. "P-Please… Dirk…"

The mere sound of his voice sends a tremor through your body, making the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. You couldn't help but smile with a gentle ruffle of his hair, leaning down to press your lips against the shell of his ear, earning a small whimper.

"What was that, Jake?" you purr, feathering kisses down his jawline and resting your head in the crevice between his neck and shoulder. You run your hands all over the lean chest, feeling each curve, indention, and even tiny white scars from strifes past. He's just so goddamn beautiful.

"Please stop this…" he begs, his voice wavering slightly. You can feel him begin to shake from beneath you, cheeks red and flustered. You look up at him, bright orange eyes locking on his as you lean up to his face, your lips only inches away.

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that now," you muse softly, planting a chaste kiss to his lips. "It's past the point of no return." You kiss him fully this time, slow and passionate, and you feel him go stone still as your hand glides to the end table, grabbing the hard handle of a small knife. He must have seen it from the corner of his eye, because before you know it, he's thrashing about like a fish out of water, his face losing color.

"Nonononono," he spews out, his eyes widening as you pull away, bringing the knife in between you. "_Please_, _don't_!" You can hear the desperation of his voice as you trace along his chest with it, imagining all the things you could do to show him just how much you love him. He grows still, his breathing beginning to shallow. You bring it to his right bicep and press down, pulling toward you. A thin line of vivid red traced the blade's path and your love let out a cry, wiggling under you. You repeat the action a few times, each cut growing longer and deeper than the last. You look up at him, seeing tears streaming down his face, his front teeth digging into his bottom lip. You bring your free hand to his cheek, wiping the tears away, only to be replaced by fresh ones.

"Hush, my little angel," you murmur, leaning down to kiss his forehead. You take your time sitting back up in your original position on his hips, eyes locked once more. You smile gently as he bit straight through his lip, the knife cutting into the square of his chest. Dark maroon blood pooled at the impact spot on his lip, slowly rolling down to his chin. His eyes squeeze shut as you pause, licking the liquid with the very tip of your tongue. It was an odd metallic taste, but it wasn't unpleasant. With a second sweep of your tongue, you lick up the rest of it, continuing to carve into the man's chest with precision. One curve, a point, and back up into another curve, then ending in the same spot you began. You inspect the near-perfect heart that was now on his flushed red chest, smiling in pride for your work.

You lean down and kiss it, then ran your tongue over the bleeding line, pressing hard. Jake let out another high-pitched sound, his eyes flying open as he tried to get from your hold. He made a sharp turn to the left with his chest, knocking you sideways a little bit. In the process, the blade sliced deeply into his stomach, a sharp cry ringing through the dim room. You manage to straddle his hips once more, watching as his face twisted in pain.

Blood oozes from the fresh wound, enough to begin pooling on the bed below him, staining the mattress for sure.

"Careful now," you mutter, pressing a hand down onto his heaving chest, pushing him into the mattress. "Didn't your grandmother ever tell you not to wrestle with someone holding a knife? It's quite dangerous." You feel his lower body shift as he tried to bring his knees up to his chest to cradle the pain, only to be held back by leather straps. You dip a finger into the gushing blood and inspect it, holding it up in front of your eyes and rotating from your wrist as it began to slide down to your knuckle.

"Isn't it such a beautiful color, Jake? It compliments your eyes." He looks at you, horrified beyond belief and grimaces as you wipe the blade off with the outside of your shirt.

"D…Dirk," he chokes out, tears welling up in his eyes. "P…Please… Let me go… I... I'll do anything you tell me… N-No matter what is…" You hear a slight quiver in his voice when he offers you a weak smile. "I promise… I-I love you, Dirk…" A familiar warmth spreads from your chest and you could feel the tips of your ears burning, the knife's tip casually resting on his shoulder.

"Silly Jake," you chuckle as you looked into those gleaming eyes of his and begin pressing hard against the handle, the blade slowly penetrating his skin. "I already have you where I want you." You drag it all the way down his torso, agonized screams coming from his throat as the blood quickly rose to the surface, rolling down his sweat-coated skin. His whole body is shaking once more, and you bend down, capturing his lips. At first, he is almost reluctant, but after only a few moments, you manage to push his lips open and slide your tongue inside, dancing alongside his. You let out a low groan at how much power he was giving you in the kiss, not trying to fight anymore. Your cheeks burn a nice scarlet red as you worked inside his mouth, releasing the weapon and letting it fall to the bed so your hands could travel over his flesh. As you pull away, he lets out a soft gasp and closes his eyes, blood pumping out from the deep gash.

"I love you," you breathe over his skin, travelling down and ghosting your lips on his neck. "I always have, Jake." You kiss the crook of his neck before biting down hard, ensuring a bruise and a few teeth marks would be there for a while. He hissed through his teeth as he craned his neck, eyebrows knitting together.

"Stop!" He shouts pleadingly, his voice panicked as he attempted to throw you off the bed by swiveling his hips. "Stop this, Strider!" His eyes grow a sudden fierceness that you only really see during your legendary fisticuffs, and you pause for a moment. You comply and sit back on your haunches, still. He lets out a small sigh of relief and looks up at you with a hardened, but pained, expression.

"Now tell me Strider, what in the Sam Hell is going on?"

"You," you answer simply, looking down at the handiwork of the blade that decorated up and down his chest. "That's what. I love you, Jake. So fucking much…" He almost gives you a sympathetic look before taking a shallow breath but you cut him off before he could utter another word. "I always have. I sent you a shitty love song for fuck's sake. But what do you do? You act like I didn't even exist. And that-" You squeeze your fists around his sides, the skin slick and hard to grip. "-was the tipping point, English. I tried to tell you how much it messed me up, but I couldn't. Not with you fawning over Jane…"

"But I wasn't—"

"Oh, spare me, English," you hiss, digging your nails into the skin and raking down. "It was pretty damn obvious, if you ask me." He bit his bruised lip once more and held back a noise.

"Um," he began lowly. "If… If it's any constellation, J-Jane and I are merely ch-chums now…" Just the word "chums" sent a fire blazing through your veins as you quickly grab the knife handle, squeezing it until your knuckles turned white.

"You mean like we use to be?" you growl, eyes harsh on his, seeing his Adam's apple dip as he swallowed nervously.

"W-We still—" You act without thinking, feeling your head beginning to cloud. You raise the knife straight over your head, embedding it in the middle of the bleeding heart on his chest with a grunt. His eyes flew open as his mouth opened in an 'o' shape, a strangled gasp caught in his throat. His eyes roll back in his head and his head landed on the mattress, your breathing shallow as your anger fumed.

"You dare to call us '_chums_' after you quit talking to me for _months on end_? The only goddamn reason you started talking to me again was because Roxy chewed your ass out!" you spew at his unconscious form. All of your suppressed emotions erupted as you scream at him. "I loved you with all my heart and you just blew it aside. It hurt, Jake... It hurt so much." Your voice lowers to a low murmur as you bent down, resting your forehead on his. "And I had to make you feel my pain.. Make you understand what you did to me…" You kiss his lips gently, a hand running through his hair then squeezing hard, yanking his head up and to the side to deepen it. He doesn't move, doesn't kiss back. You pull away before slapping his face lightly, your anger finally venting out. Surprisingly, you don't stir a reaction from him, his rosy lips parted slightly. Well, you guess it wasn't _that_ surprising considering how much blood he's lost.

"Jake? _Jaaaake._" You shake his shoulder and his eyes flutter open a few minutes later, yet something was different—they were losing the life in them. "Come on, English, don't black out on me."

"G... Go fuck yourself," he mutters when his eyes open, looking up at you with hateful eyes as he breathed rapidly through that glorious little mouth of his. You place a finger to shut him up, which he doesn't hesitate to bite down on, sending a wave of pain shooting up your arm. You growl and curl your fist tightly, punching him right across the jaw.

He made an "oomph" sound as his head was quickly jerked to the side, his eyes squeezing shut. He trembled, but was defiant enough to turn his head and spit in your face, his eyes glaring. You slug him again, and again, breaking his nose. You hear a sickening crack before pausing, panting a little. His head remains at the side for a few moments, red flowing down over his lip.

"I hope you're happy with yourself," he whispers, looking up at you slowly as his voice grows in intensity "I look forward to seeing you burn in _Hell_!" Something snaps inside you, something animalistic and raw, all your emotions swirling into a violent storm in your head until all you're seeing is red. Your bloodlust is on high now, swerving your energy all back to your arms as you grip the handle protruding from his chest.

You pull the knife from its sheath, and swing back down repeatedly, Jake screaming louder and louder with each rage-filled stab. His eyes are impossibly wide, pupils small and mouth opened up as if his jaw was unhinged. Even the tendons in his neck stuck out tensely, dark shadows lining beside them. A gurgle comes out of his throat as blood rushed out of his mouth like a tidal wave. You grit your teeth and lay down one final strike, back to the first entry wound. All grows still as blood covers his form and he coughs, the red liquid seeping from his mouth.

"Dirk…" he mouths, his voice gone completely from screaming. "I…ha… I hate you…" Shortly after you rest your hand on his cheek, you feel a single tear roll down from his closing eye.

You still love him.

The way his emerald eyes used to shine like treasures untold.

The way his frizzled hair still frames his face perfectly.

The way his muscles no longer flexed against his bindings underneath flawless caramel skin.

But most of all, you love hearing the gentle exhale of breath as he slipped from this world.

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_**Welp! Glad you stayed to the end! Reviews are always appreciated! 3 **_


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